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Humanness as social normativity: neural evidence that humanized faces align with gender schemas
Fangfang Wen1,2,3, Yiyan Ju1,2,3, Yatian Lei1,2,3
1School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Social Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China.
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
|June 13, 2026
Summary
Perceptions of humanness reinforce gender norms. Highly humanized faces are seen as more gender-normative, with distinct neural patterns supporting this link.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Gender Studies
Background:
- Perceptions of humanness are influenced by social norms.
- The connection between humanness and gender normativity is not well understood.
- Gender normativity is a significant aspect of social normativity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the implicit link between humanness perception and gender normativity.
- To determine if humanized faces are processed as more gender-normative.
- To explore the cognitive and neural underpinnings of this relationship.
Main Methods:
- Four studies were conducted with a total of 686 participants.
- Methods included rating scales, a drawing projective test, mouse-tracking, and electroencephalography (EEG).
- Participants evaluated faces for humanness and gender-related traits, and their cognitive and neural responses were measured.
Main Results:
- Higher humanness ratings correlated with stronger gender-normative evaluations (femininity for female faces, masculinity for male faces).
- Humanized mental prototypes displayed more gender-typed traits.
- Neural data indicated that low-humanness faces elicited distinct electrophysiological responses (N170, LPP, P300) related to encoding and attention, suggesting counter-stereotypic processing.
Conclusions:
- Perception of humanness is intrinsically linked to the reinforcement of gender normativity.
- This relationship is supported by observable cognitive and neural mechanisms.
- Findings highlight the role of humanness in maintaining social expectations around gender.
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